Once Bitten
by J Sumner
Summary: A visit to a distant planet leaves Rose's life in danger. Can the Doctor save her and maybe realize how he really feels about her while he's at it? 9Rose is in there, but it's subtle for now.
1. It's Sonic!

_A/N: It's a work in progress, and the ending is at this point unwritten. That's not how I normally work, so I'm a bit nervous. Read on, though, I think what I've got so far is pretty good. Set shortly after Captain Jack joins the TARDIS crew in "Empty Child."  
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_Disclaimer: I don't own them, or I would have made Chris stay on as the Ninth Doctor._

**Chapter One: "It's Sonic!"**

"Right then!" the Doctor exclaimed, clapping his hands together over the console. "Good day, we won! Where next? Go ahead, anywhere you want." He looked to his companion, Rose. She was normally just as excited by the thought of new places as he was, but this time she greeted his offer with a huge yawn.

"Wherever," she said as she tried to stifle it.

"You alright, Rose?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," she replied. "Bit tired from all the runnin' about, I expect. I think I'll just take a nap."

"A nap?" he asked disbelievingly as she headed off down the corridor. "Running about?" He would never understand apes, never. Save a world and now she was tired. She should be on top of the universe – he was! He shook his head and leaned back over the console, setting the TARDIS for another destination.

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Rose bit back on another yawn as shuffled into the Control Room the next morning.

"Still tired?" the Doctor asked in amazement. "You've slept for hours!"

"I'll be alright after I have a cup of coffee," she assured him. "An' maybe some aspirin. My head's killin' me."

"No aspirin," he told her cheerfully.

"What do you do when you get a headache, then?" she asked.

"Don't get headaches, me. Time Lords --"

"Right," she cut him off. "If there's no aspirin, could you talk a little more softly?"

"You're really hurting, aren't you?" he asked, concerned.

"Yes," she said curtly. "Thanks for noticin'."

"Hang on a mo," he said, oblivious to her sarcasm. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver, tinkered with it, then ran it over her forehead. "That help?" he asked with a grin.

"Not really, no."

He checked the setting on the screwdriver and tried again. "Anything?" he asked expectantly.

"Nothin'," she replied grumpily. "I'll go and see if Captain Jack has anything'." She shuffled back out of the Control Room.

"Captain Jack," he scoffed. He should never have brought Harkness aboard; now Rose thought he was some sort of miracle worker or something. He turned his attention back to the sonic screwdriver to figure out why it hadn't worked on Rose's headache.

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_A/N: People who review make my day._


	2. The Green Eyed Monster

_Disclaimer: I don't own them. If anything, they own me._

**Chapter Two – The Green-Eyed Monster**

Jack ran into Rose in the bathroom a short while later. She was trying to keep her balance on her right foot while she washed her left foot in one of the sinks. He put an arm out to steady her and she smiled at him gratefully.

"Some form of bathroom yoga that I'm not aware of?" he teased.

"No," she laughed. "Got myself bitten somewhere along the way, just trying to get it cleaned up."

He looked at the foot in question, and there was indeed a small set of teeth marks right above the arch. He looked to the discarded pair of boots on the floor – the left one seemed to have born the brunt of the bite.

"Looks like a rat bite," he suggested.

"No, I've had one of those before. I lived in the dodgy end of London, ya know," she said by way of explanation. "Rats can't bite through boots, 's why I started wearing them."

"Huh," Jack remarked idly. "Broke the skin, though. You up to date on all your shots?" he joked. "Sit down, I'll wash it out. Let Papa Jack take care of you."

"You sure I don't need those shots to protect me from you?" she said, relaxing under his ministrations.

"I don't bite," Jack assured her. "Unless you want me to, that is." He winked at her.

They were both still laughing a few minutes later when the Doctor walked in to find Jack putting Rose's sock back on her foot. The Doctor's eyes narrowed at the picture before him.

"Going to ask him for an aspirin, were you?" the Doctor said, unable to keep the accusatory tone out of his voice.

Rose pulled her foot out of Jack's grasp and stood up. "It's not what it looks like," she protested. The Doctor put a hand up to stop her.

"Don't bother, you don't have to explain anything to me." He walked out.

Jack looked at the door swinging shut behind the Doctor, then at Rose. "Jealous much?" he asked. She shrugged, and Jack shook his head. The complex relationship between the Doctor and Rose was something he was still puzzling out. "So, you wanted some aspirin?" he asked.

"Love some," she replied.

"Well then, your wish is my command," he told her as he led her out of the room.

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A few hours later, the aspirin hadn't helped any more than the sonic screwdriver and Rose's head felt like it was splitting down the center. Still, she felt as if she had to explain herself to the Doctor. The interior of the TARDIS was huge, but that would still be too small for three if one of them was a jealous Doctor convinced that Rose and Jack were together. She made her way slowly to the Control Room, trying not to put too much weight on her left foot.

The Doctor was lying on the floor beneath the console, fiddling with some wires. She sat down on the floor beside him and gently touched his knee to let him know she was there.

"What do you want?" he growled. Rose put a hand to her head to stop the throbbing.

"Look, about Jack," she started.

"I told you," the Doctor interrupted, "there's no need to explain. We stop somewhere, you pick up another stray--"

"Wait just a minute!"

"—Adam, Jack, next stop there'll be another one," he continued.

"That's bollocks!"

He pulled himself out from under the console and sat up to glare at her, blue eyes blazing almost black in anger. "Is it Rose? Because let me tell you, you're setting a less-than-flattering precedent here. You don't watch out, you're gonna end up with a reputation as the universe's biggest tart."

She slapped him across the face. The sound seemed to echo in her head and she winced as much from that as from the sight of her red handprint still very much in evidence on his cheek. She looked at the floor as tears started to well up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Yeah," he answered in a tightly controlled voice. "I think you'd better go now."

"Right." Head down, Rose went off toward her room.


	3. Confessional

_A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and encouraged me to continue. Now, what happens when the Doctor has time to repent his tendency to speak without thinking.   
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_Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own. Them._

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**Chapter Three – Confessional**

The Doctor had been pacing the Control Room for hours, trying to get his anger under control and figure out what the hell to do now. He hadn't meant that "universe's biggest tart" remark, really. It had just slipped out. Just because all the strays followed Rose home didn't make it her fault. He couldn't blame the blokes entirely, either. Rose was fearless, intelligent, ready for adventure - all the reasons he had asked her to be his companion. And beautiful to boot. A man would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to want her.

Well, that train of thought was getting him nowhere. Lay out the facts, then. One, Jack Harkness was on the TARDIS now, for better or worse. Two, Jack was obviously attracted to Rose. And seemingly everyone else he came across, but that was beside the point. Three, Jack had saved Rose's life, so of course she would have some feelings for him, and she was allowed to let him rub her feet if she wanted. Of course, the Doctor had saved Rose's life on more than one occasion. He stopped pacing. Did that mean she felt something for _him_? Would she let the Doctor rub her feet? That was a thought. No, it wasn't. He started his laps around the central column again.

Why was he acting this way? There had been other companions, but he had never cared whom they chose to spend their time with. Jealousy had never been a knee-jerk reaction for him before, why now? The Doctor realized that he had always felt somewhat possessive of Rose, right from the very start when he saw Rickey the Idiot cowering on his knees with his arms around her waist, holding her back from what she could be. What she was with him, the Doctor. She was _his_ Rose. Except she wasn't, really. They were best mates, nothing more. He knew how Rose felt about him: she saw him as a father, a substitute for Pete Tyler. Didn't matter that he'd had some extremely un-fatherly dreams featuring her as of late, or that his arms sometimes physically ached to hold her as he had when they had danced together…

Bloody hell. He was going around in circles here, physically and mentally. What it all boiled down to was that he was a jealous git who had absolutely no reason to be. Young as she was, Rose was fully capable of making any decisions about her love life on her own, and he had no say in it. He was a 900-year-old Time Lord, not a jealous teenager. It was time to start acting like it. Push away the urge to strangle Harkness then, and pretend everything was fantastic. He was good at pretending.

He was not so good at apologizing. Not sincere apologies, at any rate. "Right, your work's going to blow up in about thirty seconds, sorry!" he could handle. He wasn't connected to those people. Apologizing to his best mate, who had recently proven that she was her mother's daughter in the slaps department was different. He had let Rose in, and now she was part of his life. And if they were going to live together in the TARDIS with "Captain Jack," they needed to put this whole sorry incident behind them. He was going to have to tell Rose he was sorry, there was no way around it. So be it. Better to get it over with now and return to the way they had always been. The Doctor and his plus one, Rose Tyler. And her plus one, Jack Harkness. He muttered a curse that the TARDIS didn't see fit to translate and walked out of the Control Room like a man going to his execution.

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_A/N: Hope that was a bit of an explanation for the Doctor's actions in the last chapter…I think the TARDIS crew went through a lot between the "She's mine" dip at the end of DD and the Three Musketeers phase at the beginning of BT, since it seems like a complete 180. BTW, I'm writing this without a beta, so if you're interested in the position, message me. It would make my painful revisions a lot easier._


	4. An Apology, of Sorts

_A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed, particularly those who gave specific things they enjoyed. It all helps, believe me!_

**Disclaimer: So not mine.**

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**Chapter 4 – An Apology, of Sorts**

The Doctor knocked on the door to Rose's room. No answer. "Rose?" he called softly. No answer. She was still angry, then. He was going to apologize anyway. The door was slightly ajar, so he pushed it open and looked around. No Rose. A partially packed rucksack on the bed - what was that about? He looked around and saw that the small cupboard was open and emptied. It looked as if she had started tossing everything in the bag and been interrupted partway through. What was the daft ape doing?

He stuck his head back out the door and looked for her in the hall. "Rose?" No answer, and nowhere in sight. He sighed and started down the corridor. Halfway down he passed the bathroom and stopped. Well, he'd already found her in there once today. Be damned if he was going to interrupt her and Jack in there again, though. Feeling more than a little stupid, the Doctor knocked on the bathroom door. "Rose, you in there?"

A slight cough, followed by a soft "Yeah, but don't come in."

"What, another bathroom tryst with Captain Jack?" he asked without thinking. He knocked his head off the wall in frustration with himself. He had come to apologize, not exacerbate the situation. "Fuck, Rose, I didn't mean that!" Dead silence from the other side of the door. "Rose?"

"Jack's not in here," she said huffily, but still in that soft voice. "And it wasn't anything before, but you wouldn't let me explain." He heard a gagging noise from her side of the door. "Look, I'm really not feeling well at the mo. Leave me alone, we'll talk about this later." He didn't listen to her and was through the door in a minute.

Rose looked very small and pale sitting on the floor beside the toilet. Like a little girl, her face scrubbed clean of its customary makeup, her hair pulled back in a loose queue, wrapped in a robe with her feet peeping from under the hem. She was missing a sock and her right foot was bare. Suddenly she looked unbearably fragile to him.

He sat down beside her on the floor. "Been here long?" the Doctor asked.

"Few hours," she answered neutrally. "Mind if I lie down? Bein' vertical isn't exactly my favorite thing right now." He nodded and she lay down on the floor, using her pair of discarded jeans as a pillow. She closed her eyes and let out a small moan.

"I'm sorry you're sick," he told her. "Bad, is it?"

"Haven't felt like this since the morning after my eighteenth birthday," Rose replied. "That was the worst hangover ever. Dunno what this is, but it's givin' that day a run for its money." She clutched her stomach with both hands.

He moved her hands away and passed the sonic screwdriver over her abdomen. "Better?" he asked.

"Not really," she said. "You sure that thing works on humans?"

"Like a charm, normally." He peered at the device. "Come on, let's get you to the med bay. I should have something there that can help." He stood up and started to lift her.

"Doctor, I don't think moving me around is gonna be a good idea for you or your jacket," she groaned, pressing her hands to her stomach again.

"Look, if you end up tossing on me or my jacket it won't be any less than I deserve," he said, putting his hands under her knees and shoulders to lift her. "I've been a right prat today."

"So you have," Rose agreed, and slumped against his shoulder.

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_A/N: Captain Jack will return soon, I promise. Reviews are always welcome. Alright, more than welcome. _


	5. Differential Diagnosis

_A/N: Thank you, all you lovely people who are leaving reviews for me. It really makes my day to see that so many of you are enjoying this story and (even better) think I can write! Thank you, thank you, thank you!_

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**Chapter 5 – Differential Diagnosis**

In the event, she threw up only once. More of a dry heave, actually, and she had considerately averted her head to miss him and the jacket.

"Get you sorted out soon, Rose," he promised, checking the various displays clustered around her in the med bay. "Let's see…symptoms. Nausea, of course. You're running a fever, too, from the feel of you." He consulted a screen. "Yep, 39.5. What else, what else? Still got that headache?"

"Now that you mention it so loudly, yeah," she said. "The aspirin didn't help either. Don't suppose you have any nanogenes about, do you?"

"No, sorry," he said with a grin. "Time Lords don't generally need them. We heal quickly."

"Big help to your travel companions, I'm sure," she snapped.

"Not in a good mood, either, but I guess that's not a symptom. This is too general, could be anything," he said disgustedly. "When did you start feeling out of sorts, Rose?"

She put a hand to her stomach to fend off another rush of nausea. "Um…yesterday, I reckon. I was really tired all of the sudden when we came back from Tellaria."

He snapped his fingers. "Fatigue!" he exclaimed. "Now we're getting somewhere. Narrows it down to about ten thousand diseases, give or take a few. That you picked it up on Tellaria takes it down to a couple thousand."

"Very encouraging," she managed to groan before her stomach turned traitor again . The Doctor gave her a basin, then looked her over for anything he might have missed. His gaze came to rest on her feet: one bare, the other still encased in a sock. The stocking foot seemed larger than the other.

"Any particular reason why you're wearing one sock, Rose? Trying to start a fashion trend or summat?"

"Wha'?" Rose looked at her feet for a moment, puzzled. "Oh, no. Tryin' to keep the left one clean. Got a bite on it."

"What kind of bite?" he asked, rolling the sock off to examine the foot in question.

"Jack said maybe a rat when he bandaged it up earlier, but it doesn't look like a rat bite to me," she said. "Little bugger bit through my boot, for starts." She heaved again, closing her eyes for a second, then looked at the basin in disbelief that anything could be left in her system. What she saw made her scream exactly as the Doctor removed the bandage covering the bite.

"Sorry, Rose," he said. "Didn't mean to hurt you."

"Doctor?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"Taegu bite," he announced grimly.

"Doctor?" she repeated.

He looked up at her to find she'd gone even paler than before. "What, Rose?"

She pointed to the basin, which was partially filled with blood. "That can't be good, can it?" she managed to get out before she fainted.

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When she came to, Rose could hear the Doctor berating Jack. "How have you never seen a taegu bite? You've been around the universe enough times!"

"Lounges and bedrooms are more my style," Jack protested. "I can't help it if you pick the less civilized places to visit."

"I hate to break this up," Rose said with her eyes still closed, "but what's a taegu bite?"

"It's what you've got on your left foot, apparently," Jack offered.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," the Doctor snapped. He turned to Rose and his features softened. "A taegu is a vile little beast that makes its home in abandoned areas on Tellaria, Rose. Looks like a cross between a rodent and a reptile, 'bout the size of a cat, reddish fur, scaly tail, jaws like a crocodile. Venemous. Your boot slowed him down a bit, but it didn't stop him from getting his teeth on you just the same.'

Rose shuddered at the description. She felt like she was going to heave again, but remembered what had happened last time and concentrated on holding it down. "So you've seen a bite like this before, you must know how to fix it. Right?"

The Doctor looked at her foot, which was starting to swell now that it was free of the bandages. He didn't like the way it looked. Red streaks were starting to make their way up from the bite to the ankle, and that was never a good sign.

"Doctor?" Rose said, looking to him for confirmation.

"Yeah. Get this taken care of and have you back on your feet in no time," Jack assured her. "No problem. Right, Doctor?" He stepped lightly on the Doctor's foot, a not-so-subtle hint as to what the correct answer was.

"Doctor?" Rose asked again, unconvinced.

"Sure, Rose," the Doctor told her. "Fix you right up, everything will be fantastic." He tried to smile at her. It was considerably less than his usual mega-watt grin, but she had closed her eyes again and didn't notice. "I just have to check a book first."

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Jack followed the Doctor into the TARDIS library. "What's wrong?"

The Doctor ignored Jack and ran his fingers along the spines of the books on the nearest shelf. Choosing a huge tome, he opened it midway and started flipping pages.

"Look, Doctor, don't ignore me. You may not like it, but I'm her friend, too. I have a right to know what's going on. What's so bad about a taegu bite?"

The Doctor looked up from the book, a finger marking his place. "For most of the Universe, nothing. They're not pleasant, but a couple of days and you're as right as rain."

"Then what--" Jack started.

"Humans, Jack. You apes are a fragile bunch in some ways. Taegu bites affect you lot differently, and it's not pretty. I thought I might have forgotten a few of the gory details and I wanted to double check to make sure. Yes, Jack," the Doctor said before Jack could get a word out, "occasionally even I forget things. I'm nine hundred years old, it happens. But I didn't forget this time. My memory's spot on."

"And," Jack prompted.

"And for humans, taegu bites end in a very painful death."

"There's nothing you can do?" Jack asked.

"According to this book, no," answered the Doctor. He slammed the book shut. For once in his life, Jack Harkness was speechless. Then the Doctor slapped him on the shoulder and grinned. "Well don't just stand there gobsmacked! Come on, Jack, since when do I go by the book? I'm not about to let her slip away from us that easily."

Jack smiled back. "So what are we going to do?"

"Dunno yet, but I expect I'll think of something. I'm a genius, y'know."

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_A/N: Okay, I combined a few of what I've been calling chapters here to make the "your chapters are too short" camp happy. Truth to tell, all of this is handwritten in a notebook I carry around with me, and I am always surprised to see the difference between the written chapters and the typed ones._

_Oh, 39.5 degrees Celsius is 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Rose is running a respectable fever._

_Reviews are good. Just like bananas. _


	6. What Kind of Doctor?

_A/N: A short chapter this time…I have company coming in from out of town and won't be able to post again until next week, but I didn't want to leave you for that long without an update. Don't say I never did anything for you._

_Disclaimer: Don't own them. Nope._

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**Chapter 6 – What Kind of Doctor?**

Rose smiled weakly at them when they entered the med bay. "Anything good in the book?" she asked.

"Nope. Load of rubbish," the Doctor told her cheerfully.

"Then why--" she started.

"Second opinion," he informed her. "Of course, sometimes second opinions are crap. My opinion? Always right."

"Not so sure about that," she smiled. He pulled a face at her. "Alright, what's your opinion, then?"

"That bite's gotten infected. Gonna have to clean it out. Then I'm gonna mphmmmm," he said, the last words spoken into his shoulder.

"Didn't catch that last bit," she said, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Er…cauterize it with the sonic screwdriver."

"No," she said. "Absolutely not."

"Rose, honey," Jack tried, but she was having none of it.

"Think I don't know what that means? I know. It means you're gonna dig about in my foot and then burn me. No."

"Rose, look, you won't even feel it," the Doctor soothed.

"Heard that before. When I was eight. Had to go to hospital when a cut on my hand got infected. They dug around in it with tweezers, cut it open some more to drain it, then burnt it shut to stop the bleedin'. Not doin' it again," she declared. "Hurt for months afterwards and I've still got a scar." She stuck out her right hand to show them.

"Rose, you trust the Doctor," Jack pointed out. "He's much better than whatever quack treated you, and his equipment is much more advanced." Rose shot him a death glare.

The Doctor tried again. "Rose, I would never do anything to hurt you. You're my best mate. I'll give you something that will make you sleep like a baby the whole way through."

"No," she said again. The Doctor took her hands in his and looked her in the eye.

"Then you'll die," he informed her bluntly. Her eyes widened.

"I want a second opinion," she said.

"That _was_ the second opinion," Jack said. "He's the one who thinks he can get you through this. The book says you're a goner."

"Oh, she said softly. She was silent for a moment, thinking it over, then squared her shoulders. "Alright then, guess you'd better do it."

The Doctor smiled fondly at her. "Tough little ape," he said, touching her cheek with one finger. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you. Don't want your mother hunting me down, after all."

She gave him a little half-smile, then paused. "One thing," Rose said. "Are you a real medical doctor, or is 'The Doctor' more of a nickname?" She and Jack both looked at him expectantly.

"Definitely a Doctor," he said with a confident grin. "Of lots of things," he added under his breath. "Now, let's get on with this, shall we?"

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_A/N: Thanks to everyone who has left me a review – I'm really happy to know you're hearing the Doctor's voice in this as clearly as I am._


	7. A Fair Prognosis

_A/N: I've been totally sidetracked the past few weeks, so this took a lot longer to get out than I thought it would. Sorry about that – I hope a few of you are still around!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anyone who might be living in a big blue box._

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**Chapter 7 – A Fair Prognosis**

The operation was more difficult than the Doctor had anticipated. The infection was more widespread than he'd originally thought; some of the tissue had gone necrotic and had to be excised. To top it all off, the anesthesia hadn't worked as expected and Rose had been awake for most of the surgery. He had half expected that, given the way the taegu bite had failed to respond to other drugs, but it hadn't been pleasant for any of them. Still, with his skills and some guidance from the TARDIS, he was fairly confident about Rose's recovery.

"Tough little ape," he told her again. "You won't be running from Autons any time soon, but you should be just fine."

Rose smiled faintly and squeezed Jack's hand. Jack had held her hand through the entire surgery, as if to take some of her pain away. He could barely feel his fingers for the bone-crushing grip she'd had on them in the past few hours, but he smiled at her anyway.

"You should try to get some sleep," he suggested.

"Not really tired," she told him lightly. "But you should get some."

"Or at least some ice for that hand," the Doctor joked. Rose looked down at Jack's hand, which was indeed red and swollen.

"Jack! I'm so sorry, why didn't you say something? I would've--"

"Hey, none of that," Jack chided. "Least I can do. Take one fore the team, ya know?"

"Why do I think that phrase generally has a different meaning when you say it?" the Doctor asked.

"Because it generally does," Jack replied with a grin.

"Stop your flirting and get some ice," the Doctor told him, trying not to smile back. "I'll just have a word with my patient." Jack nodded and set off toward the kitchen. The Doctor took a seat beside Rose and reached for her hand.

"Alright then, Rose. Be honest, how much does it hurt?"

"Not much at all," she replied a little too brightly.

"The truth, Rose." He gave her a searching look and her façade crumbled.

"Pretty bad," she mumbled, staring at the ceiling.

"Meaning the worst you've ever felt?" he prodded. "A fifteen on a scale of one to ten?"

"Yeah." She suddenly looked directly at him. "Why didn't the anesthetic work? Nor the sonic screwdriver?"

"It's a side effect of the venom," he told her. "It intensifies the nervous system's natural reaction in order to incapacitate the victim. Most everyone who gets bitten by a taegu reports intense pain, but it's only really debilitating for humans."

"Meaning fatal, right?" she prompted.

"Generally, yeah," he admitted. "We're lucky. Your boot took most of the bite so only a bit of the venom got into your system. What little got into your body moved slowly, and I just took care of it." He indicated her foot.

"Good thing I had a Doctor handy," Rose said, trying to smile but not quite managing it as a spasm went through her. "So how long's the pain going to last?"

He hesitated for a moment, then looked her in the eyes. "I don't know, Rose. Most people, a few days. But you're the first human to survive a taegu bite. There's no telling."

Rose took a deep breath and stuck out her chin determinedly. "Right. So we'll just play it by ear."

He squeezed her hand, once again impressed by her courage. "Yep. But we're gonna be careful. No getting out of bed till I say it's safe, okay? I don't want to risk you, Rose Tyler."

"Don't want to risk a run in with my mum's what you mean," she teased.

"Or that," he agreed with an exaggerated shudder. "In the meantime, if you need to get some of the pain out, squeeze _my_ hand. Time Lords are made of sterner stuff than some pretty boy pilots I could mention."

"I heard that!" Jack protested from the doorway.

"Knew you would, Jack," the Doctor said with a wink at Rose.

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_A/N: Anyone interested in being a beta, this is where I'm going to need your help…we're getting to the end of what I already had written out and I might be in over my head. Help?_


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